Dateline South Pacific, between Rarotonga and Raiatea, in a rain squall: The weather gods haven't been kind to this cruise. I wrote yesterday that we'd get into Raiatea tomorrow for sure because it had a dock to which we could moor.
Apparently I experienced a momentary optimism spasm yesterday, how atypical of me. Today the Captain's noon briefing included the fact that Raiatea harbor is difficult to enter in rough weather. It seems there is a narrow path we must travel to get through the reef and into harbor; at this point it remains unclear whether the weather will permit us to negotiate that tricky passage.
Long cruises like this one attract mostly experienced cruisers, few beginners take a 30 day cruise. Many of these folks have done more than a dozen voyages, quite a few have done 30-40. You can see that in how many were chowing down to lunch an hour ago, the unsteady deck and muddy weather isn't hampering a lot of appetites among these seniors.
Virtually all cruise line vessels are registered someplace other than the U.S. That makes them subject to the Jones Act. It says foreign registered vessels like this one cannot carry passengers between U.S. ports unless they enter some foreign port before returning to the U.S. to disembark passengers. It is the reason ships leaving Seattle to cruise to Alaska stop in Victoria or Vancouver in British Columbia.
Our passengers on this cruise understand the Jones Act. They joke we may have to divert to Ensenada, Mexico, to make the cruise legal, if continuing bad weather keeps us from going ashore in any South Pacific port. I suppose it is remotely possible, albeit highly unlikely.
